Fig 2: Soluble factor levels in conditioned media of IL-21-silenced HCT116 cells. (A) IL-18 and (B) IFN-?. Conditioned media of non-parasitized host cells were used as a control. The cytokine level was calculated as the ratio of the experimental value (pg/ml) relative to that of the control. At least two independent experiments were performed. Data are presented as the mean ± SD from triplicate cultures. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 vs. day 1. d, day.

Fig 3: mRNA expression levels of cell proliferation markers in host cells incubated with growth media containing IL-18 and IFN-γ for different time intervals. (A) Ki67 and (B) PCNA. Host cells incubated with growth medium were used as a control. The target mRNA expression was normalised to the expression of GAPDH in the same sample. At least two independent experiments were performed. Data are presented as the mean ± SD from triplicate cultures. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 vs. day 4. d, day; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen.